New England Rum Pie

by Rachel on December 27, 2010

Yum Rum Pie!

My mom has been making this pie since the late 1950s. When my parents were first married they lived in Edinburgh, Scotland. In those days (the early 1960s) most Scots didn’t have a refrigerator. They had a cooling box that had slits cut to the outside. It’s cold enough in Edinburgh that you could keep most things as cold as you needed them to be – even without a proper fridge. My mother went about cooking as she’d done in the US and made this pie for dinner guests. Unfortunately, this pie really does need to chill in an actual fridge, or it doesn’t fully set. She was a tad disappointed with the outcome. I feel fairly certain that my readers own and use a standard fridge and not a box with slits cut to the out of doors. Given this certainty I am going to predict that your pie will set completely.

Rum Pie is my favorite food group.

Piecrust:

2 cups crushed graham crackers (see explanation below)

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup melted butter

Pie Filling:

12 ounces of cream cheese at room temperature

½ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon dark rum

Pie Topping:

1 cup sour cream

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon dark rum

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

My mom crushes her graham crackers by laying them out on a wooden board and pressing down on them with a rolling pin. Being of the more modern cooking generation, I put the graham crackers in a Cuisinart and process them on the pulse setting. Either way is fine. We used whole wheat, all natural “Mi-Del” graham crackers in our most recent pie. These super healthy, slightly dense graham crackers aren’t very sweet so we upped the sugar to half a cup in our batch of piecrust.

In a medium sized mixing bowl mix all of the piecrust ingredients together. Press the crust mixture into the bottom and sides of a 9 or 9 ½ -inch pie pan. You need to have a firm hand for this task. Press the crumbs hard against the side of the pan. The crust will be nearly half an inch think when you’re done. Place the piecrust in your preheated oven for 5 minutes. Remove and cool for five minutes.

While the piecrust is cooking prepare the pie filling. In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the softened cream cheese. Add the sugar gradually, and then add the eggs and finally the rum.

Pour the pie filling into the piecrust. Gently smooth the filling in the pie dish with a soft spatula. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove.

While the pie is baking whisk together the sour cream, sugar and rum. Spread this mixture over the top of the baked pie. Return to the oven for five minutes, or until the top has just set. Remove pie from oven. Cool to room temperature on your kitchen counter (or, if you live in Scotland, in your box with slits cut to the out of doors). Place in fridge and chill for at least 2 hours. Serve.

WOW! I have never heard of anyone else serving New England Rum Pie. We make it every year at Christmas…it was my grandmother’s recipe. (She is Canadian & Scottish). We put white rum in the cream cheese filling and sherry in the sour cream topping. It’s so delicious that family members have been known to chase each other around the kitchen fighting over the last slice! I’ve just been diagnosed with Celiac disease this year–so I’ll have to learn to make a gluten free crust and am doing a test run this weekend. Christmas wouldn’t be the same without it. =)

Alison – I bet they make gluten free crackers that are like a graham cracker. You really just need something slightly sweet that crumbles. I bet our pie recipes are from the same decade!
Cheers,
Rachel

This blog is dedicated to my parents who taught me that the family meal is a place for reflection, sharing of stories, and for connection. In our family it is a place of safety and certainty and quite frequently of hilarity. The food served by my parents is always made with care, creativity and generosity of spirit. I share their passion for cooking and their belief that the family meal is a critical anchor for all of us.

So, to both of my parents who celebrate life's ups and downs by laughing and lingering in the kitchen, this blog is for you.